Good Riddance To The ISA

It may be one small step for our neighbour, but it's a giant leap for human rights advocates. The new Security Offenses Bill presented to the lower house of Malaysia's Parliament on Tuesday will limit detention without charge to 28 days, not indefinitely, as was the case under the repressive ISA law.

The British introduced the "Emergency Regulations Ordinance" in 1948 during the Malayan Emergency in response to a communist uprising and guerrilla war. Three years after The Emergency was declared over in 1960, the Internal Security Act was passed in place with the same powers to curb communist insurgency. Singaporean Chia Thye Poh, the world record holder for imprisonment by his wicked law, was detained under the ISA from 1966 to 1998, for allegedly being a communist. Maybe that's where the Americans got the idea for Abu Ghraib.

Today, Communists from China are welcomed with open arms, especially those bearing the promise of economic gifts. The Singapore Ministry of Education even send teachers out to traverse the PRC expanse to offer scholarships to little commie ingrates, only to have them label our senior citizens dogs after being feted at taxpayers' expense.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the new legislation will give police all the powers they need to protect national security and combat terrorism, at the same time introducing new safeguards for civil liberties to ensure that the highest standards are upheld.

That must sound all Greek to Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who stubbornly insisted in October 2011 that ISA helps Singapore to tackle not just terrorism, but also other threats such as foreign subversion, espionage and racial agitation. Teo ruled out all suggestions to replace the ISA with a Terrorism Act, unless the Act is "very broad in scope and provides for preventive detention, just like the ISA", i.e. replace the ISA with another ISA. This guy justifies detention without trial for terrorists by maintaining that such trials would "expose information terrorists could use to pursue their agenda". Needless to say, all open trials also tend to expose the hidden agenda of the prosecuting party. Maybe he should be sent across the Causeway to learn from our more enlightened neighbours, and paid like his Malaysian counterpart while he's taking lessons.

Don't Get Sick

According to the KPMG May edition of their publication "Issues Monitor - Healthcare" (thanks, TK of Apr 10, 2012 12:12 AM), there is a booming medical tourism trade ripe for the picking. Besides geographical proximity and cultural similarity considerations, they highlight cost savings as a major pull factor.

This is what they write about the government initiatives in action:

- Over 2006-08, the annual number of medical tourists to Singapore jumped more than 16 percent, from 555,000 to 646,000 visitors. By 2012, the country aims to attract 1 million medical tourists.

- The government is promoting medical tourism with a network of high quality clinics and hospitals than can cater to foreign patients.. This is in addition to various drug manufacturers and biomedical research laboratories owned by large foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers that have established themselves here in recent years. Apart from the 15 hospitals that are equipped to treat foreign patients, the government has aggressively worked to attract top doctors and scientists from around the world and pushed for major foreign pharmaceuticals to establish operations.

Using sample data from the Ministry of Health website, one can see that the hospital bill for heart surgery can vary quite a bit depending on how deep your pocket is, or how the Means Test determines your fate.

We all know what happened to housing prices when that minister-from-hell decided to use market valuation for land allocated for HDB flats. His sickening opportunity cost argument was that the same designated plots would have generated more revenue for the government if used for private development. Now, imagine what would happen if the supply of hospital rooms in the country is tilted towards the deep pocketed medical tourists instead of the "subsidised" lesser mortals. For all we know, it has already happened. Please don't get sick, you may not be able to afford it.

It's Always About The Money

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) classify medical devices varying in complexity from simple products like tongue depressors, surgical sutures and contact lenses to more complex devices such as implantable defibrillators, prosthetic heart valves and diagnostic imaging systems. Dr Raymond Chua, deputy director of the HSA health products regulation group, talked of the need "to instill the sense of safety in doctors". From the perspective of the layman, all we see are the questionable charges implemented to evaluate "medical devices" like wheelchairs, bandages, and condoms. Like the $6,000 and 11 months for the "full evaluation" of a prophylactic. Are they planning to recall Annabel Chong for an encore performance of her marathon session?

What local doctors are really upset about is why the approval of the FDA or the EU is not enough. "The FDA is a US monstrosity that has thousands of people working full-time. Why does HSA want to re-do what the FDA has done?" asked Dr Huang, an ear, nose and throat specialist. One suspects the answer is right there in the good doctor's question. The Health Ministry probably wants to create another monstrosity in the civil service, staffing it with thousands of people (and expensive permanent secretaries), and boosting the cost of living even higher than it already is. We have seen how Vehicle Inspection Centers have been set up to swell up the government coffers. And made thousands of motorists poorer. MAS claims to be "very concerned" about the persistent inflation, hovering around 5%. It's strong Singapore dollar strategy won't be of any help if the inflationary pressure is generated internally.

On the medical supply side, many reputable manufacturers may decide to skip the Singapore market rather than put up with the bureaucratic crap. But doctors who run the risk of importing an item not registered with HSA face a potential fine of up to $50,000 and/or a jail term of 2 years. At the end of the day, the patient suffers - for want of a better catheter or anaesthetic. Eye specialist Dr Tan suggests HSA should follow the example of Japan, where doctors can bring in anything - instruments, drugs, etc - if they assume personal responsibility for their use. If you can't trust your doctor, who can you trust? HSA is not budging, they are only prepared to "review its charges." It was always about the money, not affordable health care for the citizens.

Time Out

Whoa, time out! You know this xenophobia thingy is getting a wee bit out of hand if thin-skinned football fans raise the red flag over crummy giveaways like a mug, portable fan, 6-can cooler bag and travel bag. Anybody familiar with marketing mechanics will know that the cost price of the gift items are way less than the purported $50. You get more value in your National Day Parade goodie bag.

Unfortunately for Starhub's Ms Ong, head of corporate communications and investor relations, the politically correct charged atmosphere of recent weeks required an apology of sorts. Hence a segment marketing exercise ended up, by their official admission, as "an own goal". It's either that or subject of another police report. Never mind if the original aim was to target the skinflint Ang  Mohs to sign up, especially the chao kuan types (literally, Hokkien for "smelly-type" - used to denote a cheat or devious person, according to the Coxford Singlish Dictionary) who bring their own 6-packs to the kopi-tiam to watch for free.

What the protesters should really grouse about is why Singaporeans have to pay in the first place when some countries get to watch for free. Media Development Authority's new "cross -carriage" rules merely requires Starhub to share it's broadcast rights with its competition. Sports group subscribers 4 years ago only paid $10 - $20, while non-sports group subscribers paid $50. Now it has gone up to $69.55 - only early birds who sign up before 30 April are entitled to the $58.85 pricing. Now, that's something to grumble about.

The Gift Of Giving

Way back in 2007 when the peasants grumbled noisily about PM Lee's 25.5 percent salary hike from S$2.46 million to S$3.1 million a year, he tried to salvage his bruised moral authority by promising to donate the $600,000 to "worthy causes". Notably, the word "charity" was not used.

Apparently he kept his word for the past 5 years, or so we are told. This year it was revealed the money went to:
- a Community Initiatives Fund under the People's Association (S$200,0000);
- a new Prime Minister's Social Service Award ($$100,000);
- a Prime Minister's Valedictorian Award for the top student in each graduating cohort from the School of The Arts ($50,0000).

The balance of the money ($250,000), says he, will go to a range of community, grassroots, youth, arts and welfare organisations (details not provided).

In May 2009 it was reported that a Singapore Buddhist temple had received about $1.5 million dollars in cash from a mysterious donor, in stacks of $1,000 notes deposited monthly in the temple's donation box. The regular contributions to the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, a religious welfare group which is not politically affiliated, varied between $40,000 and $50,000. The lodge's chairman Lee Bock Guan said he was sure the money always came from the same unknown donor,"You know it is the same person, because the notes always come in the same, neat stack. By donating in cash, this person clearly prefers to be unknown."  The lodge has been providing free vegetarian meals to the less-privileged for more than 20 years, at a cost of nearly $210,000 each month.

Easter is a good time to reflect on Sunday School stories. One in particular, The Widow's Mite, tells of a widow who donates two small coins (a mite being the least valuable coin available at the time), which was everything she had to her name, while the filthy rich gives only a small portion of their own wealth. The traditional interpretation of the morality tale is that the value of a gift is not accounted by how much is given, but by how much is kept back. And whether one makes a song and dance about the "act of generosity".